Director Cordray is scheduled to appear before the Senate Banking Committee on April 7, 2016 for a hearing entitled “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Semi-Annual Report to Congress.”  (The CFPB’s most recent Semi-Annual Report is the report issued in November 2015 covering the period from April 1, 2015 through September 30, 2015.)… Continue Reading

A group of Democratic Senators led by Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley is expected to introduce the “Stopping Abuse and Fraud in Electronic Lending Act of 2016” or “SAFE Lending Act of 2016.”

The bill represents the latest version of bills with similar titles introduced by Senator Merkley and other Democratic Senators in previous years.  … Continue Reading

The CFPB announced it has entered into a consent order with Student Aid Institute, Inc., a student debt relief company, and its chief executive officer.  The order settles charges that the company and CEO violated the Telemarketing Sales Rule, the Consumer Financial Protection Act prohibition of unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices, and Regulation P (which implements the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) by conduct that included falsely representing an affiliation with the U.S.… Continue Reading

The CFPB has issued its March 2016 complaint report which highlights complaints about debt collection and complaints from Florida consumers.  The CFPB began taking complaints about debt collection in July 2013.

General findings include the following:

  • As of March 1, 2016, the CFPB handled approximately 834,400 complaints, including approximately 22,800 complaints in February 2016. 
… Continue Reading

As we have addressed, Congress passed the Helping Expand Lending Practices in Rural Communities Act of 2015 (HELP Act) on December 4, 2015, in efforts to expand the designation of additional areas as being “rural” under Regulation Z of TILA.   The HELP Act was passed after the CFPB issued a final rule to expand the definition of “rural areas” under Regulation Z with regard to the authority of small creditors to make certain qualified mortgage loans under the ability to repay rule and avoid the escrow account requirement for certain higher priced mortgage loans, as we previously discussed.… Continue Reading

Politico has reported that the CFPB is not expected to issue a final prepaid card rule until this May or June “according to two sources familiar with the talks.”

In November 2014, the CFPB issued a proposed rule for prepaid financial products, including general-purpose reloadable prepaid cards and certain digital and mobile wallets. … Continue Reading

The CFPB is among the federal agencies participating in a Financial Data Summit hosted by the Data Coalition to be held on March 29, 2016 in Washington, D.C.

Linda Powell, the CFPB’s Chief Data Officer, will be on a panel dealing with data management.  Representatives of the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve will also be on the panel.… Continue Reading

On March 29, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case in which the CFPB joined the Solicitor General in filing an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs.  The court granted the SG’s motion to participate in the oral argument.

The plaintiffs in Sheriff v.… Continue Reading

The CFPB updated its regulatory implementation materials to incorporate the recording of its March 1st presentation titled Know Before You Owe Mortgage Disclosure Rule – Construction Lending. The presentation focused on complying with the TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule in connection with construction-to-permanent loans. The presentation, about which we had previously written, covered loans that have single closings and include a construction phase and a permanent phase.… Continue Reading

The CFPB has issued its fifth annual Fair Debt Collection Practices Act report covering the CFPB’s activities in 2015.

In the background section of the report, the CFPB provides various statistics about the debt collection industry and consumer debt.  The CFPB observes that there has been a significant increase in consumer FDCPA litigation, with 4,316 cases in 2007 and 11,697 cases in 2015.… Continue Reading